Pierre was a founding member of our School. He was hired in 2006 out of the influential solidarity NGO that he co-founded, Alternatives, and served as Deputy Director and Undergraduate Coordinator until 2017. He was indefatigable in building the School’s development and globalization programs, as well as promoting them and our students as the best in the country.
Pierre was an engaged scholar and public intellectual. He co-designed and edited with colleagues a total of seven editions of the textbooks, Introduction to International Development, and Enjeux et défis du développement international, that have become the leading pedagogical materials for students of international development in both English and French Canada.
He was a prolific publisher on issues ranging from international solidarity, social movements, social justice and social economy to Canadian foreign policy and the World Social Forum. His intellectual curiosity about the politics and sociology of the world, Global North and Global South, was almost inexhaustible.
Pierre was an activist intellectual in the best sense, with a passionate commitment to making a better future for the disadvantaged of the world, and an enormous generosity of spirit that was inspiring to students and professors alike. He will be greatly missed.
The SIDGS will organise a commemoration of Pierre’s life and work this spring.